Ghosts of the Past
by SarahHalina
Summary: Takes place during NCIS 16x13 "She" so spoiler warning is in effect. When Gibbs discovers that Ziva had a secret office with journals, he unknowingly pulls on a thread that unravels revealing more than Gibbs bargained for.


Gibbs pulled up to his house and turned off the car. He looked at the journal in the passenger seat. His heart was broken. The wounds of Ziva's death were still fresh despite that it had been three years and discovering that she had a secret office in the back of some random woman's house where she stored several journals of her thoughts and feelings of every case she ever worked didn't help. He had cleared out some of them and put them in his house earlier that day, but he couldn't bring himself to let go of the journal that had Ziva's thoughts and feelings about Morgan Burke's kidnapping. He remembered getting mad at her for letting the case go.

"We did it, Ziva" Gibbs said. "Morgan and her daughter are safe."

He hoped that she could hear him, wherever she was. He grabbed the journal and opened his car door before exiting the car.

Gibbs approached his front door and despite everything appearing normal, Gibbs couldn't help but feel like something wasn't right. After twenty-eight years in law enforcement, Gibbs learned to trust his gut because it was almost never wrong. He pulled his gun out of his gun belt holster and was ready to defend himself.

"NCIS" Gibbs called out. "Show yourself."

Gibbs placed the journal on the kitchen table before heading down into the basement. When he heard the faint sound of footsteps, he spun around and held the gun in front of him, pointing it toward the stairs.

"NCIS" Gibbs repeated. "Show yourself now."

"Can you put the gun away first?" a voice asked from the top of the stairs.

Gibbs recognized the voice immediately. Gibbs put his gun back in the holster and looked at the stairs.

"Ziva?" Gibbs said, confused.

"Yes Gibbs" Ziva said, walking down the stairs.

Her Israeli accent was as thick as it was when she first arrived at NCIS fourteen years ago.

"You're alive?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes" Ziva said. "It is a long story."

Gibbs walked over to her and gave her a hug.

"How? Why?" Gibbs asked, not letting go.

"The mortar attack on the farmhouse was not an accident" Ziva said, pulling out of the hug. "Someone was trying to kill me. I had to let them believe they succeeded."

"Why not come to us?" Gibbs asked. "We could have helped you."

"I can handle this myself" Ziva said. "I am close to bringing them down."

"Who are they, Ziva?" Gibbs asked.

"The less you know the better" Ziva said.

"Ziva" Gibbs said, concerned.

"Trust me Gibbs" Ziva said. "I know what I'm doing."

"Come on. Let me make you something to eat."

Ziva followed Gibbs upstairs.

Ziva sat at the kitchen table while Gibbs heated up the stove.

"So when did you get here?" Gibbs asked.

"I have been here the whole time" Ziva said, pulling the journal closer to her. "In my secret office. I know you and your team were there. I know you found the journals. I can explain."

"No need" Gibbs said. "I get it. Rule Ten. I drilled it into your brain. I drilled it into everyone's brain. I believed that getting personally involved in a case only made things more complicated. I didn't see how it might be beneficial. After all, it was your journal that helped us find Morgan and her daughter. They're safe Ziva."

"I know" Ziva said. "That is why I am here. I know that you took the journal and I really need it. I promised Morgan's mother that when we caught Morgan's kidnapper, I would deliver her message to him. I have it written in the journal."

"It's all there" Gibbs said. "But, to keep your secret, you should leave the journal here."

"I just need the letter" Ziva said, ripping the letter out of the back of the journal. "I really should be going."

Gibbs looked at Ziva.

"Already?" Gibbs asked. "Dinner isn't even ready yet."

"I know" Ziva said. "But, I have already been out a lot longer than I intended and I feel like Elenor will be here shortly. She really has that fire and drive."

"She does" Gibbs said. "When she has her mind set on something, nothing can hold her back. She's a lot like you in that respect."

"Maybe one day we will be friends" Ziva said. "In the meantime, no one can know I am alive."

"No one will" Gibbs said. "But if Bishop finds the missing letter in the journal, and she probably will, then she will put two and two together."

"I can handle Elenor Bishop" Ziva said.

"Promise me that if you find yourself in over your head, you'll come to me" Gibbs said. "I don't want to lose you for real this time."

"I promise" Ziva said.

Ziva hugged Gibbs.

"Thank you Gibbs" Ziva said. "For believing in me and for being a father to me."

"It was easy" Gibbs said. "You really are like my daughter. I love you, Ziva."

"I love you too, Gibbs" Ziva said. "Be careful out there."

"You be careful too" Gibbs said.

Gibbs gave Ziva a final hug goodbye and watched, with tears in his eyes, as she walked out of his house, letter in hand. She glanced back at him, gave him a little wave goodbye and disappeared like the ninja she was.

Ziva walked into Robert Hill's hospital room to see him sleeping peacefully, his hands handcuffed to the bed rails. Ziva shook her head. She imagined what Morgan and her daughter must have gone through while they were held against their will by this man and how neither of them probably had a good night's sleep in ten years. Ziva closed the hospital room door and walked over to him.

"Wake up" Ziva demanded.

Robert woke up and looked at Ziva.

"Why hello" Robert said, flirty. "And who might you be?"

"Your worst nightmare" Ziva said. "I have a message from Morgan's mother. You are going to listen to it."

Ziva read the letter and after she finished, she left it on the table and then towered over Robert with a knife to his throat.

"Every time you close your eyes, you will see this. Me standing over you while you are powerless to stop me" Ziva said. "I will haunt all your dreams. You will never get a goodnight's sleep again because trust me when I say I can get into anywhere I wish. I have all the power. Remember that."

Ziva walked out of the room.

About a half hour later, Bishop came to Gibbs's house.

"How are you doing?" Bishop asked.

"I learned a lot from reading Ziva's journal" Gibbs said. "Come here."

Bishop and Gibbs sat on the couch. Gibbs opened the journal.

"It is good to let it in. It is good to feel. Because feeling brings me power. Feeling is what makes me realize that the savior I have been waiting for is me" Gibbs read.

Gibbs closed the journal.

"Robert Hill had a heart attack on the way back" Gibbs said. "He's at Mercy Point, Room 118. Do what you have to do."

Bishop looked confused.

"Gibbs" Bishop said.

"I know" Gibbs said. "I know."

The simple statement had two meanings. The meaning Bishop knew in that moment. That sometimes getting personally involved can be a good thing. But there was also the meaning he was sure Bishop would learn about eventually. That he and Bishop were soon to be the only two people to know Ziva was in fact alive. Bishop took the journal and walked out of Gibbs's house.

Bishop walked into Robert Hill's hospital room.

"You" Robert said. "What do you want?"

"I have something to read to you, and you're gonna listen" Bishop said. "It's a letter from Morgan's mother.

"Yeah" Robert said. "I got it."

"What?" Bishop asked, confused.

"Somebody already came here and read it to me" Robert said, glancing at the paper on the table. Bishop picked up the letter and opened the journal to see that it was in fact the same letter.

"Who?" Bishop asked.

"She told me she was gonna haunt my dreams" Robert said, with a laugh.

Bishop walked out of the hospital room.

Ziva was in her office moving her jacket to a different spot and placing her scarf on the desk.

"You know that you can simply tell the NCIS agents that you're alive" the landlady said.

"Gibbs knows" Ziva said. "Elenor is probably already suspicious, but she will have confirmation if her attention to detail is as good as Gibbs believes it is, but I can not let anyone else know. Tony and Tali's life depends on it."

"Are you sure you can trust Elenor Bishop?" the landlady asked.

"I know I can" Ziva said. "I can not explain it, but it is a feeling I have."

"Well, unless you are willing to meet Elenor, you better get up to the main house" the landlady said.

"Thank you for opening your home to me" Ziva said.

"Well when your team showed up, I knew that you couldn't go back to the office" the landlady said. "At least not in that moment."

"It was the perfect hideout" Ziva said.

Ziva and the landlady headed back to the main house.

Bishop opened the office door and looked around the room. The jacket was moved. She noticed that right away. Shortly thereafter, she noticed the scarf on the table, so she walked over to it and pulled a piece of paper out from under it.

"Eleanor Bishop" Bishop said, to herself. "For the safety of my family, please keep my secret."

Everything suddenly hit Bishop. She had the knowledge that Ziva was alive, but couldn't say anything. She knew she couldn't. Bishop walked out of the office and her instinct was telling her to nod in approval, so she did.

"See" Ziva said. "I knew she could be trusted."

Ziva watched Bishop get in her car and drive away and then headed back to her office to settle in for the night.


End file.
